Folding crate.



No. 659,945, Patented 00L [6, I900. T. B. WHALEN.

FOLDING CRATE.

(Application filgd June 8, 1900.) \No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet Wya'wess s m Norms PETER$ c0, wofaumo. WASHINGTON, D. c.

Patented Oct. l6, I900.-

T. B. WHjALEN.

FOLDING CRATE.

(Apyljgafion filed June 8, 1900.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

I & l 4.

rrn rain i FFICEQ FOLDlNG CRATE.

$PEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 659,945, dated October 16, 1900.

Application filed June 8, 1900. Serial No. 19,517. (No model.)

To (ti/Z lull/07721 it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS B. l/VHALEN, of Clayton, in the county of Harford and State of Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in Folding Crates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain details of construction of the folding crate, as will hereinafter fully appear.

In the description of the said invention which follows reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which- Figure l is an exterior top view of the improved folding crate. Fig. 2 isan exterior side view, and Fig. 3 an exterior end view, of the same. Figs. 4: to 19, inclusive, are details, on an enlarged scale, of the crate and hereinafter described.

Referring now to the drawings, A is a board forming the bottom of the crate, and B the frame of the top. The bottom A and the frame B are connected at the corners by folding standards, each one of which consists of a base, a cap, and a connecting-bar in two sections hinged together and hinged to the base and cap. The base (see Figs. 4, 5, and 6, which are respectively a view as seen from the end of the crate, a view as seen from the side of the crate, and a top View) consists of a plate a, having on its upper surface the double-hinge member I) of a hinge which is of the rule order-that is to say, it will admit. of the folding of the bar from a vertical line in one direction only. The base-plate a is secured to the bottom A by means of screws or rivets, the latter being shown. The cap of the standard (see Figs. 9, 10, and 11) is represented as seen from the same point of view as is the base, and it consists of a plate (1, having the double-hinge member 6. It is secured to the frame B of the top by means of rivets or screws. The double-hinge member 6, like the one 6, is of the rule order.

The bar G, which connects the base and the cap and together with them forms the standard, is in two sections of equal length, fand g, and these are hinged together with a rulehinge h, and they are provided with the double lugsj and the single lug 7c, for purposes hereinafter described.

Figs. 7 and 8 and 12 and 13 represent different views of the ends and a view of the central portion of the two sections of the bar 0, and they are shown as occupying the proper positions relatively to the base and cap. The ends of the bar have single-hinge members, so as to connect with the double ones of the base and cap.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, it will be seen that the sides D and the ends E of the crate are formed of wire-bound wirework. The sides D are in two parts an upper-and alower one-of eq ual size, and they are held independently to the sections of the standards by the double lugs j, between which they are placed. The upper section of the sides is prevented from falling below the center of the crate or to contact with the lower section by the wire staples m, well shown in Figs. 16 and 17, which represent a part of a side and the top frame.

The lower sections of the sides need nothing to hold them, as they rest on the plates of the bases of the standards.

The ends E of the crate are each in one piece, and they rest in the double lugs e of the base and may therefore be folded inward and down onto the bottom A. They are pro vented from outward movement by means of the single lugs 70.

The space within the frame B of the top of the crate is closed by a wire-bound piece of wirework F, which overlaps the inner edge of the said frame and is secured to the same by means of the fixed hooked clips G, the hooked ends of the clips covering the binding-wire, as is well shown in Figs. 14 and 15, which are respectively a top and a sectional side View of a part of the frame, with its adjacent wirework.

J is a door placed over an aperture K in the wirework top of the crate. It is wire bound, and the hinges whereby it is attached to the wirework proper are preferably formed of rings 0, which connect the binding-wire of the door with a wire of the wirework at one side of the aperture, as shown in Figs. 18 and 19, which are respectively a top and an edge view of a part of the door and its connections.

To collapse the crate, the sides are turned down onto the bottom A, and there being IOO then nothing to prevent the sides from being folded they are bent inward at the central hinge.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a folding crate, the combination of a bottom provided with a standard-base at each corner having a hinge member, a top having at each corner a standard-cap having a hinge member, standard-bars in two sections hinged together, hinged to the bases and caps, the said standards having double lugs to hold the sectional wirework sides of the crate, substantially as specified.

2. In a folding crate, the combination of a botl om having at each corner, a standard-base with double lugs and a hinge member on its upper surface, a top having at each corner a standard-cap with a hinge member, standards in two hinged sections to connect the bases and caps and provided with single lugs, a wire-bound end for the crate the lower edge of which is situated between the two parts of 

